Update on Abasand and Beacon Hill

Work is still being done on both Abasand and Beacon Hill but the municipality is hoping for a return of residents in the areas soon.

Work is being done for all properties in re-occupation in Phase One. The homes in these two areas are being divided into two Phases, the homes in Phase One being the ones that are farther away from the debris field.

Right now the hope is that home owners whose properties fall under the first Phase can return home five to seven days after the Chief Medical Officer of Health signs off on the plan. As of right now there’s no timetable for when and if the sign off would happen.

The municipality has seen significant progress of the flushing and cleaning all the water appliances in these homes. As it sits right now this is almost fully completed with the next step being bacteria testing. This will confirm the potability of water in both of these areas.

732 Demolition Permit applications have been filed with 419 being issued. 310 of these permits were received by the municipality over the August long weekend. There have also been 51 post-demolition inspections.

Now this is all part of the Green Homes Plan which will detail all residents what to expect up too and upon their re-entry. Information centres will be set up in both Abasand and Beacon Hill to provide information as well as support.

While the municipality and the Government of Alberta continue to try and re-occupy the two areas they are continuing to investigate the best measures for re-entry of Waterways. Right now safety is the big priority with more studying needed to learn of possible risks of rebuilding in the Waterways flood plain.

The municipality will be sending out another update on all three areas one week from today on August 11th. They will be giving out weekly updates.